Gawker.com to close next week

Gawker.com will be closing down next week after nearly 14 years of online journalism.

Outgoing Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton informed staffers of the website’s fate Thursday afternoon, according to an article on Gawker.

{mosads}The move comes hours before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan decides whether to approve Univision’s bid for Gawker Media’s six other websites.

Reports emerged late Tuesday that Univision has agreed to buy Gawker Media for $135 million, pending approval by a bankruptcy judge.

Denton, who is also Gawker’s founder and managing editor, reportedly plans on leaving the company if its sale to Univision goes through.

Denton filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after a prolonged legal battle against former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose case was funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. 

Gawker Media also filed for bankruptcy protection in June before putting itself up for sale to pay Hogan $140 million in damages.

Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Bollea, sued Denton and Gawker four years ago after they published a portion of a private sex tape featuring him.

Thiel, a major conservative donor, revealed in May that he was bankrolling Hogan’s fight against Gawker Media. Thiel pointed to a post on a Gawker Media blog discussing his sexuality in 2007 as his motivation for funding Hogan’s lawsuit.

“I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection to the public interest,” Thiel told The New York Times.